The British Art Prize 2024: Interview with winner Samuel Owusu Achiaw The winner of the British Art Prize 2024 has just been announced. Samuel Owusu Achiaw took first prize for his exquisitely diaphonous and hyperreal graphite and charcoal portrait of his sister, titled ‘Looking’. We attended the awards ceremony at Southbank’s Gallery@oxo and were […]
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What’s in a name? London place names decoded We’re surrounded by street signs every day and casually type these sometimes odd-sounding addresses into Google Maps without a second thought about what they mean or where the name came from. The Romans founded the city of Londinium [London], so you’d expect a Latin root somewhere. Let’s […]
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The British Art Prize 2024: Interview with winner Samuel Owusu Achiaw The winner of the British Art Prize 2024 has just been announced. Samuel Owusu Achiaw took first prize for his exquisitely diaphonous and hyperreal graphite and charcoal portrait of his sister, titled ‘Looking’. We attended the awards ceremony at Southbank’s Gallery@oxo and were […]
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Writer Jon Appleton launched his serialised online fiction London Faces this week on Charles Dickens’ birthday perhaps aware that the great novelist also launched his illustrious career similarly through a serialised London-themed piece of fiction, which was published in Victorian newspapers. It was called Pickwick Papers. London Faces is unashamedly dedicated to the goings on […]
Widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Dickens provided the nation with many memorable titles and characters from Oliver Twist through to his penultimate novel Great Expectations. Although born in Portsmouth, where he spent his working years as a factory worker, these characters gave us an invaluable insight into life in the […]
If you ever venture to the backstreets of East Central London you’ll be pushed to find a greater concentration of muralists, street artists and skilled graffiti taggers as there are in Shoreditch than in any other area of London. Bear witness to their incredible work some of which might even have kept the Renaissance Masters […]
As the shortlist for the fourth plinth in the square’s north-west corner gets underway, it’s interesting to chart the history of this public art space which has drawn much controversy because of the dominance of non-traditional and post-modern candidates. When architect Charles Barry designed the square in 1841 it was envisioned the plinth would hold […]
On January 30th 1969 the world’s greatest band performed an impromptu gig on the roof of their Apple offices in Saville Row. It would prove to be their last. The 42-minute set drew large crowds and also the concern of local police who tried unsuccessfully to pull the plug. The band settled for turning down […]
It is the year of the Rooster. On the eve of Chinese New Year we look at Chinatown, one of London’s most well-known pockets of ethnic minority communities. Situated in the back streets between Leicester Square and Piccadilly there are cheek by jowl restaurants which especially during Chinese New Year are a tourist magnet. What’s […]
The Museum of London’s scheduled move to Smithfield Market gets the green light after an announcement that £180 million of the required £270 million has already been raised. It sourced the bulk of this funding (£110 million) from the City of London Corporation, with Mayor Sadiq Khan committing to £70 million. This capital injection underscores […]
In this day and age we grumble about Brexit and Boris and take for granted many of our democratic rights but it’s important to remember that were it not for one rebel baron 750 years ago we’d probably still be ruled by a monarchy. Baron Simon de Montfort at the very least planted the seeds […]
Lots of cool things happening in East London. In previous years its low business rents and rates made it a magnet for artists. This cultural influx has spread into other areas, with the East End now a magnet for pop-up eateries and alternative restaurants like no other corner of London. Standing out amongst these is […]
Art lovers will be excited to learn the first ever world tour of French painter Paul Cezanne’s portraits will hit our capital city in October 2017. London’s National Portrait Gallery has been instrumental in this, working together with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. It involves 50 of his […]
Hillary Clinton Graffiti/Painting Shoreditch By Street Artist Pegasus
